Pandora's Box
by Wendy Raimi
Summary: The Warners go to visit Penelope, but something goes horribly wrong.


Pandora's Box

Wendy Raimi

Disclaimer: Animaniacs belongs to Warner Bros. Anyone who wasn't seen in the show, belongs to me.

Author's note: Figured I'd get this up. Don't know if it'll ever become a full fledge story (tried, I had no plot) but hope the fans will enjoy it. Based off of a dream I had a few years back.

Pandora's Box

He watched the little hula girl sway back and forth as the car sped down the freeway. A white velvet gloved hand reached out and gently placed a fingertip on the hula girl's head. She still swayed underneath him, but not so much.

"Is she making you motion sick? I can stick some rolled up paper in her spring if you like?" the driver asked. The hand pulled away from the hula girl and was replaced onto the left knee of the khaki colored slacks its owner wore. The boy...the teen...the man didn't reply back.

"You four are very quiet. I was expecting it to be a lot...louder when I came to pick you up."

"We've grown more mature over the years. It happens." a Manchester accent replied from the back.

"But you're toons." the driver replied.

There was no response. Least, none spoken aloud that wouldn't have been offensive.

Two weeks ago Penelope Eclaire had mysteriously vanished and after the appropriate 24 hours, the police had been called. Four hours after this and the Warners had been called. Penelope was safe and sound, but had been taken to a hospital in rural Temecula, about 50 miles from Burbank. Penelope was pregnant, with Yakko's child, and fearing not only for the mother's life, but the child's as well, Penelope's doctors had persuaded the woman to have some testing done in the Temecula based hospital. Hearing this, Yakko had immeaditly asked if he could come and spend some time with Penelope. The doctors had agreed, even suggesting that perhaps all four Warners would like to come and visit. Not only visit, but also there was a hotel near the hospital and that they could stay there while Penelope under went testing, and perhaps even until she had the child. The Warners had loved the idea and the doctors said they would send a car to pick them up. Indeed, this morning at 7:30am a black Crown Victoria had pulled up to the Tower with one of the doctor's driving the tinted four door Ford and had helped them get into the car and ready to head to Temecula.

As they got off the freeway, they drove down a gravel road and noticed that there wasn't much except sand and wild desert brush. Occasionally a bird or a desert hare could be seen, but for the most part the landscape was empty. They eventually saw a tall black glass building seem to rise from the horizon and all four began to blink and avert their faces from the glare that pierced their eyes from the oncoming sunset. The car turned into a parking lot and began to move ever closer to the building. _Something's not right_, Yakko noted to himself as he felt a shiver run down his spine -- most hospitals he had seen were usually white or beige on the outside, but this one was black and looked more like an office building. Most hospitals looked rather concrete and solid, whereas this one practically screamed 'drive by shooting! Best shots gotten here!' Not only that, but the parking lot was empty. Except for the Victoria, there wasn't another car in sight, and there were no ambulances either, or even a door for the emergency room.

The car parked several feet away from the front door and the driver turned off the car, getting out. When he saw that the Warners weren't going to move, he leaned his head back in.

"This is the place. Aren't you coming?" and suddenly the four began to open doors, un lock seat belts and get out of the cool black Victoria and out into the rather hot desert air of Temecula.

The doors slid open as the man and the four Warners approached the building and once inside, the temperature regained its cool and pleasant qualities. The air seemed fresher in here and a red sign bolted to a nearby wall read in white script, "Oxygen is pumped into this building". As they headed down a dimly lit hallway, they could still tell that the walls were a light blue, but that if this was a hospital, it was rarely used. No nurses or Doctor's walked down the corridors. No patients could be seen and no intercoms could be heard asking for a doctor to come to a certain room. It was as if the hospital was deserted, but as the Warners were led down various hallways, they didn't ask about it. They were sure they were going to receive some explanation. Still, Yakko felt unsure now and not at all at ease. He knew by now something was wrong, but couldn't tell what it was. It was a feeling that resonated down into his bones, it coursed through his blood. Nothing was right in this place and one wrong move could get not only him killed, but also his siblings and quite possibly Penelope. He just hoped his sibs would follow his lead and not do or say anything either.

The driver, the man, pushed open a set of steal doors and when the Warners entered they could hear the doors behind them being locked. Once the doors were locked, flood lights and spotlights began to flick on, one by one.

The room was huge, and cold like the water tower would be, but the Warners didn't feel the cold, they saw the room as it was. A huge room, the size of an airplane hangar, with the walls painted a dark gray. Doctors and scientists were everywhere, surrounding tables, sitting on chairs, writing things down on clipboards and spirals in pencil and ink. Wires strung themselves around on the floor hooking into computers and beeping machines.

And in the middle of this was a huge tank, filled with medium blue water and Penelope in a white bikini suit in the middle of the tank with wires attached to her to keep her...alive, they hoped. For Wakko, Swirls and Dot, their mouths just hung open in a shocked silence, unable to quite register all that was around them. For Yakko however, it registered immeaditly and he turned to the man who had led them here.

"I thought you said this was a hospital! What are you doing to her?!" Yakko cried out as he pointed towards the large tank. The man began to walk towards an empty, but banquet sized table and the Warners followed, as if hypnotized.

"Don't you understand Yakko? This woman is carrying _your_ child. A human is carrying not only a toon child, but a child of unimaginable power--"

"What do you mean 'power'? We're nothing special?" Swirls couldn't help but interrupt.

"Nothing special? My dear girl! You are of an unrecognized species; you and your brother have telepathical abilities that, no doubt, if strengthened could be put to great potential. A human woman has fallen in love with your brother, has obviously had sexual relations with him and now, under amazing abilities, been able to carry their progeny and if all goes well, be able to deliver a healthy hybrid of human and toon! Do you know what this _means_?" the man asked Swirls. Swirls dumb foundly shook her head.

"Well, I know it means nothing. Who cares? It's not like this is going to break the laws of physics." Yakko shot back. All he could see was that the woman he loved was possibly in the greatest danger of her life.

"My dear boy," here, Yakko grimaced as the man referred to him as a boy, "the _government_ cares about it. They have given full go ahead to supply us with whatever means necessary to find out how all this is done." the man explained.

"Well, I could've told you that. A nice dinner, a movie and asking her to spend the night in my bedroom were the ingredients." Yakko retorted with a sneer. The man, the doctor, rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but we want to know scientifically how it was done, and how medically, it will effect the woman and her child."

Yakko began to feel his throat grow tight. His eyes began to sting and he didn't understand why.

"If you let her go, it won't have to effect her at all." he choked out and he quickly closed his eyes. He couldn't lose what he had now. He couldn't lose his courage to stand up against this man. He couldn't lose an attempt to fight for Penelope and he certainly couldn't lose Penelope herself. He would die before he would let anything happen to her.

When Yakko opened his eyes, he saw the man give a menacing smile and another shiver ran down Yakko's back. Suddenly, it was to get much, much worse.

"Funny, I thought that the great Yakko Warner wouldn't show emotions when he tried to debate a subject he feels such a great passion for. But obviously your love for this woman has gotten in the way. No matter. We're still keeping watch over her and after the child is born, not only will we have her and the child, but we'll have the Warner Brothers and their sisters to watch over as well." and the man smiled as he looked over the tank and the room. Yakko swallowed and his eyes grew hard and cold.

"Over my dead body." he spat out. The man raised a brow as he turned his head,

"And what do you think you can do about it?" And as Yakko balled up his fist and pulled back his arm, the room was splashed in red and a loud klaxon began to sound. Everyone turned towards the tank, the water looking like blood because of the lighting and saw that Penelope's body was writhing in pain, her eyes closed tight.

"She's gone into labor!" someone cried out and the room suddenly became chaos with doctors and scientists running around, grabbing papers, writing things down, typing ever so faster on the computers.

"I want a full and detailed report of everything that happens to her! No one harms her without my permission!" the man cried out over the chaos and he quickly began to jog away.

The Warners watched the chaos, but Yakko's eyes were transfixed on Penelope's writhing form. It was as if her pain was being transported directly into Yakko's heart and the eldest Warner cried out as a doctor approached him.

"Sir, how do they come? In litter's or singular? And how often do you--" but the doctor never finished his sentence as Yakko looked to him dumb foundly as Swirls asked, "What in hell are you talking about?! Why don't you _help_ her!?" speaking for her brother the exact words he was thinking but could not vocalize. The doctor walked away and Yakko looked to Swirls. Swirls placed a hand on Yakko's shoulder and squeezed.

"Let's go rescue your girlfriend."

And suddenly Yakko bolted upright in his bed; beads of sweat pouring down his head and over his body. He felt so hot and yet the air around him was freezing. His chest hurt and he realized that he couldn't catch his breath. His head began to hurt as he laid it back down on the pillow, one hand covering his eyes as he moaned. Something moaned back and he blinked as he sat himself upright and looked to his left. There, lying in bed, was Penelope. Her soft light brown hair curled about her face, glinting gold in the soft moonlight that shined through the skylight from the ceiling. Yakko took a deep breath as he kissed her cheek.

"I promise. I swear to anything that you want nothing will ever harm you. I promise."


End file.
